The 40th edition of ‘Medicines, Ethics and Practice’ (MEP 40) — the professional guide for pharmacists – has been published by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), and includes a number of significant amendments and additions.
Two new sections in the publication include guidance around the supply of naloxone by individuals employed or engaged in the provision of recognised drug treatment services; and guidance on biosimilar medicines.
MEP 40 will be distributed with the July 2016 issue of The Pharmaceutical Journal and will be available online for RPS members from 1 August 2016 via the Society’s website.
The document has been written by the RPS professional support team, guided by feedback received from RPS members and the MEP 40 advisory panel, which comprises 42 pharmacists from different backgrounds and sectors, a preregistration trainee and a pharmacy undergraduate student.
Katie Perkins, lead author of MEP 40, says: “This new edition of MEP continues to provide practical advice for pharmacists on changes to legislation and good practice requirements that have taken place since the last edition. In response to feedback received throughout the past year, MEP 40 also provides further clarification and updates to existing sections to support pharmacists with patient-centred decision making in their day-to-day practice.”
The RPS professional support team has made a number of updates and amendments to existing sections to reflect changes to legislation and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and to signpost to new RPS resources.
Updated sections include: medicines reconciliation; helping patients to understand their medicines; military prescriptions; administration of adrenaline in an emergency; and disposing of spent methadone bottles.
The section on dispensing valproate for girls and women has also been updated following the launch of a toolkit by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in February 2016.
MEP 40 contains new information on conflicts of interest and declaration of interests in the professionalism and professional judgement section. The section on prescriber types and prescribing restrictions has also been updated to include new information on radiographer independent prescribers and dietitian supplementary prescribers. The section that provides guidance on checking the registration of healthcare professionals and conditions of supply has had information added on the sale, supply and administration of medicines by orthoptists. It also includes guidance on the purchase of medicines by children.
Clarification on controlled drugs and signposting to information on supply to orthoptists has been added to the section that deals with wholesale dealing. There is also updated information on wholesale dealing in the veterinary medicines section, including human medicines for veterinary use.
In line with new RPS resources launched over the past year, the clinical check section of MEP 40 has been updated to signpost towards resources on electronic health records. And the document also provides information on near miss errors and reporting adverse events via the Yellow Card mobile app.
A number of sections have been updated to reflect new legislation around the area of controlled drugs as well as NICE’s ‘Controlled drugs: safe use and management’ guidance published in April 2016. The background pages have been updated to include additional information on accountable officers and the section on obtaining controlled drugs now contains updated information on requisition requirements for Schedule 1, 2 and 3 controlled drugs. The section that covers instalment directions for Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs section has also been amended to include new Home Office approved wording. The section describing methods of destruction of controlled drugs and the guidance on running balances have also been updated.
MEP 40 continues to include standards and guidance from the GPhC, with its permission.
For more information on obtaining a copy, see this notice.
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